paul.

thanks so much guys for the votes, kind words, and everything else. means more than i can possibly say. as always, i am humbled by y'all's kindness. i am truly blessed to have such a great group of friends. as far as fishing with hank goes, i ain't gonna count my chickens before they hatch. ;D winning elite angler only gives me a CHANCE at the grand prize (1 in 22 odds i think). hank chooses the winner himself out of that group i think. we'll see what happens. either way, i appreciate the support from all my friends at br and ragetail more than i can put into words. that brings me to the subject of my MIA status here at br. i am sorry that i have not been on in a while. for the better part of the summer, we have been short staffed at work and things have been pretty hectic. unfortunately no relief is in sight for at least a month. but eventually i hope to be able to stop in and talk with y'all every once in a while. i sincerely apologize that it took so long for me to see all these well wishes and congrats in this topic. thanks for the heads up big o. and thanks kent for posting this. look forward to more good times on here when i get a chance. thanks again for everything. y'all are the best.

beautiful pix and great post man. the bass appreciate you layin' off for a little while i'm sure. keep on 'em bro.

you're tearin' it up dude. stay on'em.

looks like a pretty good year man. keep whackin' 'em.

last post here guys. i promise. i wouln't have even posted this one if it wasn't already close to the top. i woulda just let it die. anyway, this little contest has turned ugly fast. seems like maybe some people on there, one in particular really, really have not been happy with me winning. honestly, i just wanted to have a little fun and a shot at a trip with hank when i entered this thing. i just did what the rules said and called on my friends. people weren't happy with me climbing as fast as i did. but i won't apologize for having a lot of friends and a close family. that's a real blessing. fishing has been good to me. winning is nice, but there are other things that are far, far more important to me. if it's meant for me to win this thing, this month, next or later it will happen. if not it's all good. i've been blessed to catch plenty of really nice fish over the last few years. that's reward enough. i posted a fish tonight over there that will hopefully end all the drama. my sincere thanks to each and every one of you. i am humbled by your kindness.

guys, i gotta seriously say thanks again. i am really, truly humbled by y'all's show of kindness. and i wasn't gonna say anymore, but i feel like i just have to let y'all know how much i appreciate y'all continually bumping this thread and keeping my hopes alive. but i gotta warn ya, y'all are starting to make some people really upset over there. ;D ;D ;D check out "hollywood's" comment under my 13-8 (now leading thanks to y'all ) http://berkleybigfish.com/PhotosMore.php?picID=9090 let the hating begin......... ;D thanks again guys! the br posse rocks.

thanks guys. yeah, you can send the bait back for a replacement if it stops swimming properly before it catches 22 fish - hence the clever name. honestly, i didn't weigh the fish. it's hot and and i wanted to get her back in the water asap and i'd rather get a pic than a weight. sorry. as far as little em's weight - 56 lbs. 57 after supper. ;D if you haven't tried the big baits yet, this might be a decent one to start off with. after all the guarantee will minimize any monetary loss if the bait starts to fall apart on ya. as for me, i think i'm finally gonna break down and try a hud. but i'll be spooling on some mono first i think. there's no guarantee with that one. ;D

thanks. not sure if she'd even want a swimbait stick buddy - now or ever. she's doing so well with a little rapala and a spinning rod, i'm not sure she'll EVER wanna put that down. she caught 2 nice little bass on that before i got this fish. i had to catch this one just to stop all of her trash talk. ;D as far as the catch 22 goes, i've been real happy with its action and production. there seems to be a few little tricks to getting the most out of it, but these are really intuitive if you just pay atttention to what the bass are trying to tell ya. as far as the durability goes, well y'all know i'm a braid guy and braid is hard on baits - especially soft ones. i had a couple of catch 22's. one is already shot. the soft plastic started peeling away from the hard plastic core on the nose of the bait the first trip. > now, this one is starting to do the same thing. i'm sure mono or flouro would extend bait life, but i'm not sure that catching 22 fish is a realistic expectaition. i suspect they'll be re-naming this bait the "catch 10 if you're lucky" real soon. even if you were able to keep the bait together for 22 fish, it would look so ugly and beat up you'd probably wanna stop throwing it after half of that. like i said, i've been real happy with the action and results, and the bait is very reasonably priced (for a swimbait). but don't buy this bait thinking it's gonna be indestructible. you'll find out real quick that it ain't. ;D

here's little em admiring another nice fish that daddy caught on the swimbait this evening.

rock on lbh!!! them's some hawgs fo sho bro! hope you get the state record.

thanks. 13-8. and to tell ya the truth bb, honestly you may have seen me holding my last bass over 10 lbs. i had 2 lakes that produced most of the really nice fish i've been fortunate enough to catch. both of 'em have really fallen off this year and gone belly up. so y'all will probably be seeing me with bass the size of the one above or smaller from now on. either that, or i'll just show ya pics of my baby girl when she catches a nice one. i hate that this has happened, but sooner or later it was bound to. can't complain, it's been a good run. i have a couple of lakes i'm trying to learn now that i think will kick out some real nice ones in the future, but both of those are about 2 years away if everything goes right. never take good fishin' spots for granted. they can be gone in the blink of an eye. :'(

thanks a bunch y'all. i really appreciate it. let's just hope bikini girl don't have any more pictures or i might be in trouble. it's gonna be hard to stay ahead of her. and the dude at #1 is gonna be hard to catch too. this'll be the last time i post in this thread, because i don't want people to think i'm just bumping it up to get more votes. : just wanted to make sure and say thanks to those who voted for me and to those who might later.

thanks guys. yeah it's a catch 22. jay i'll be happy to give ya a long term report when i've had some more time with the bait.

i decided to try the big baits this year and glad i have. got got one of my new toys in the mail a few days ago and have been playing around with it at a few ponds. can't wait until i get to take a serious trip with it. if you haven't, you really ought to give the big trout baits a try. so far i'm real impressed. no, i haven't caught a real big one yet, but gimme time. in the mean time, the decent ones seem to have no problem eating an 8" trout swimbait. you don't have to have trout where you live for these to produce. you don't have to be fishing "big water". you don't have to have a boat. and no, they're not complicated to learn. in fact they seem to be rather intuitive once you start fooling around with them. worst thing you can do is overthink 'em and overwork 'em. at least that seems to be the case so far. yeah, they hit the water like somebody dropped a cow out of an airplane. yeah, they can be awkward to throw at first. yeah, they can cost a little more than your average bait. but yeah, they sure do produce and they sure are fun - big time. give 'em a try if you get a chance. hope y'all are catchin' some too.

man you have been on fire. awesome catch and congrats big time.

hey guys. thanks SO much for the votes (and the laughs ;D) so far. i really appreciate it. to answer your question frogtog, first you register here: http://berkleybigfish.com/reg.php then you vote here: http://berkleybigfish.com/PhotosCat.php?Category=B thanks again for y'all's kindness and help. nice to know i've got so many friends here.

hey guys. it's been awhile. sorry i haven't been on here more lately, but i've had some serious computer issues and work has been a nightmare. i finally have a new computer with some decent speed now, and hopefully work will slow down in a week or 2. i haven't gone on a serious fishing trip in about a month now and i'm about to go nuts. anyway, if you go to: http://berkleybigfish.com/PhotosCat.php?Category=B y'all will see a couple of my fishin' pics on the leaderboard (username jignpig). if i win this little contest, i could get a fishin' trip with hank parker. i sure would appreciate it if y'all would be kind enough to vote for my pics and maybe ask your friends to do the same. registration is very simple and seriously only takes a matter of seconds. as you can see, right now i'm losing to a girl in a swimsuit holding a 3 pounder. since i don't look very good in a swimsuit, i'll have to rely on the help of my friends if i'm gonna have a chance. ;D being a poor ol' country boy, this is probably as close as i'll ever get to being in a real bass tournament. this is a pretty cool contest with lots of chances and ways to win, so if you decide to enter yourself, holler at me on the berkley site or pm me here and i'll definitely vote for your pics too. if y'all would be kind enough to take a minute and do this, i would really appreciate it.

wow wrb!!! at first i thought you were just having a little fun with us. then i found this: http://www.bloodydecks.com/forums/bass-club/150107-news-flash-world-record-largemouth-contender.html you broke the story. please tell us what you know. if this is for real, this is HUGE news!

well, not being familiar with texas or cali, i can't really say which would be a better place to fish. either way, next time y'all go make sure you carry a rabbit's foot in one pocket and a horseshoe in the other. and we can stop all this posting about cover, structure, peak times, seasonal patterns, bait choice, and all that nonsense. here's all you need to know right here. : http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/643297/27_popular_good_luck_charms_and_symbols.html

more fun with the little one today. when she catches a nice one, i don't know who's prouder, me or her. it's so cool to watch her do all this by herself now. she casts, she hooks 'em, she fights 'em, she whips 'em. all i do is unhook 'em, hand 'em to her and tell her to smile for the camera. i think she's just about got this figured out. ;D

nope. where are you coming up with this? i never said luck was not involved. it's a variable in the equation, but it's definitely not the whole equation. tommy when you catch a big bass, do you actually believe it's because the planets happened to align perfectly that day?

tommy and george - to some degree, i agree with what y'all are saying about luck. but by the same token, here is a question for y'all. both you have caught a ton of giant bass. much more than most of us ever will. definitely more than i ever will. if this is luck, how can luck be so partial to y'all? do y'all lead charmed lives or something? both of y'all have to be the luckiest guys i've ever known. since y'all are this lucky, PLEASE tell me a winning lottery ticket number so i can quit work and come and fish with y'all. and tommy i agree that big bass out-compete their counterparts to get big. but they also out-compete all the anglers who are looking to put a skin mount above their fireplace or a bass fillet in their belly. does this make big bass smarter or dumber? maybe it just makes them "luckier". ;D

i would tend to agree with catt and george - to a degree. in general, catching bass is a pretty simple proposition. find them and if they're on, you'll catch 'em. put a decent presentation in front of them and you're probably gonna get bit. you can make all kinds of mistakes and STILL catch 'em if they're on. if they are NOT on, it gets a little tougher and you have to work a little harder to produce results. even then the results might not be what you were looking for. but if we are talking about BIG bass here, i do not think it's quite so simple. now don't get me wrong. i don't think it's rocket science. but i don't think it's second grade math either. look at a list of state record bass. what you will see is that many of these are several years old. in this day and age where fishermen have access to the most advanced tools and knowledge ever, state records would be falling left and right if catching BIG bass were truly simple. as a rule, you cannot make a lot of mistakes and catch big fish consistently - they just won't let you. even when they're on, you still have to do things right. call it what you want - intelligence, instinct, experience, conditioning, etc. big bass are just harder to catch - and it's not just because there aren't as many of them. i agree with catt's statement about ego - sometimes. but i also think that many times the opposite applies. i think many times fishermen use a simplistic view of fishing to massage bruised egos. "well they just weren't biting today." if i leave the lake after a poor showing believing this, it removes any feeling of accountability or responsibility on my part for my lack of success. it also removes any need or desire to examine what i'm doing and make changes. after all, with this simplistic philosophy, it was the fish's fault for not biting rather than mine for not figuring them out and making adjustments. truth is, maybe i could have done something different and changed my "luck". so i don't think oversimplifying is the answer either. but i try not to over analyze things like this. i just try to enjoy myself. sometimes it's hard to catch 'em. sometimes it's easy. but it's always fun to try.

well, based on the original question, i'd have to say that catching a big bass without (1) fishing big fish waters, (2) using big baits, and (3) sight fishing makes it more likely that you will have to rely on pure luck if you're gonna catch a big bass. why? because the 3 things eliminated here are proven big fish techniques utilized by a lot of skilled guys who catch big fish consistently. if you eliminate other proven big fish techniques in addition to the ones above (fishing deep structure, fishing heavy cover, fishing slowly and methodically, using live bait, and fishing during peak times for instance) then you nearly guarantee that any big bass you manage to catch is nothing but pure luck as you have all but completely eliminated skill and intelligent fishing from the equation. this was a great thread. i really enjoyed reading the responses.

summer heat does not necessarily dictate to fish deep even though that is conventional wisdom. this is the time of year when d.o. (dissolved oxygen) and the thermocline play a big part in fish location. even if the fish are in deep water, they are not necessarily on or around the bottom. they might be suspended halfway down for instance. i have caught plenty of fish staying in less than 5 feet of water when it was blazing hot outside sometimes. sometimes i've even caught nice ones flipping in 1-3 ft. of water. a lot of times finding submerged grassbeds is a key this time of year too. that said, you might be right. it could have just been one of those days that it was tough no matter what you did. better luck next time.